lamb

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A young sheep.

   In spring the fields are full of newborn lambs.

2. 2
   noun

   The meat of a young sheep, eaten as food.

   We had roast lamb with mint sauce for dinner.

3. 3
   noun

   A gentle, mild person who is easily led.

   She was as quiet and obedient as a lamb.

4. 4
   verb

   (Of a sheep) to give birth to a lamb.

   The ewe lambed early one cold morning.

From Middle English lamb, from Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₁l̥h₁onbʰos, enlargement of *h₁elh₁én, ultimately from *h₁el-. See also Dutch lam, German Lamm, Bavarian Lamperl, Danish lam, Swedish lamm, Finnish lammas, Scottish Gaelic lon (“elk”), Ancient Greek ἔλαφος (élaphos, “red deer”). More at elk.

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